When do we forget we're a democracy, where freedom of speech is our most valued birthright? Most likely when there's money to be made - or not.

Soon after 9/11, there was a lot of talk about Bill Maher, the acerbic host of ABC's excellent "Politically Incorrect." When he questioned the use of the term "cowards" to describe the 9/11 terrorists, and criticized previous administration's military actions, he got a rap on the knuckles from White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

"These are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say and what they do," burbled Mr. Fleischer: "and this is not a time for remarks like that. There never is."

Now, this was a damned dumb thing for Fleisher to say, and I'm sure he's had lots of time to regret it ever since. But what was more chilling than Fleischer's commentary - which is hardly binding, since all he can really do is stand there and play spin king for Dubya - was the other, more concrete reaction that Maher's comments got. Advertisers pulled their support, a few stations stopped carrying the show and Michael Eisner, who owns ABC and Disney - and therefore "Politically Incorrect" - told the Los Angeles Times that he disapproved of Maher's comments.

Since then, Maher hasn't been sure if his contract with ABC is going to be renewed. He said as much in an issue of Talk magazine some time after the furor. And with Letterman seeming to want to jump ship to ABC and take the time slot currently held by Nightline and Politically Incorrect there's a seemingly greater chance that his show might get swept under the rug. (ABC executives don't seem to want to confirm or deny any such thing, of course)

Now, this is all probably old news to you. But did you hear about what happened to Michael Moore? Chances are good that his book Stupid White Men is now sitting in a bookstore near you, but it almost never made it there at all

Michael Moore's new book was supposed to have been out last year. Unfortunately, the first 50,000 copies left the printers on September 10th - 24 hours before the whole world changed. His editors said that things had been put on hold - which Mr. Moore agreed with - but after a few weeks went by and the books never shipped, it became apparent that things had been put on terminal hold.

A phone call from the publishers was rather revealing. Apparently, Harper-Collins had decided that the political climate had changed. They wanted him to rewrite sections of the book that were rather harsh on Dubya, change the cover and title, and then pay the publisher $100,000 of his own money to reimburse them for the reprinting. Failure to do that would have resulted in those 50,000 books being "pulped" - destroyed. And he'd have to wait a whole year before taking the manuscript to another publisher.

Needless to say, this didn't sit well with Mr. Moore. But he refused to change so much as a word, as he felt that what he had to say was more relevant than ever. It looked like the book was doomed.

Fortunately, a well-timed leak by someone got a number of irate librarians on his side. They organized a letter-writing campaign, and, after getting a few piles from said librarians, Harper-Collins changed their minds. The book came out February 19th, the publishers think it's a "runaway best-seller," and you can finally get one for yourself.

But - happy ending aside - the lesson here seems to be a clear one: there is a massive difference between what you can say as a one-man band, and what you can say when someone else is making a lot of green from your work. Advertisers and sponsors suddenly own you, and you have to be very careful about ticking them off to the point where they go away, and you're left high and dry. Alternatively, the editors and producers might try to tone you down, to make sure that lovely green doesn't evaporate.

Moore seems to be doing alright, but then, he would: he has a unique gift to be able to turn lemons into lemonade, the better to pour it over the heads of the deserving. As for "Politically Incorrect" who knows?

Is there any chance of an army of librarians coming to the rescue?

"Needless to say, the publishing industry, much of which believes that now is not the right time to be selling a book of political humor like this, will be watching to see just how well people respond to an author who thinks it's funny to suggest that falling off couches usually has something to do with a beverage, and not a solid salted food product." - Michael Moore